Editorial

I don’t quite ‘get’ the BMW Concept Coupe Mille Miglia that was launched at last week’s retrospective event. I think the originals weren’t the prettiest flower in the garden, and the modern take, complete with flame-carved side panels and gawky stuck-on headlamps is just plain weird. I’m getting a touch of the Maybach Exelero here and it worries me.

Beautifully built though (as always with BMW), and a nice reminder of the 1940 car’s extraordinary 166.7 Km/h (103.8 mph) average speed over the course’s 1,000 miles 66 years ago. Not bad going.

A good day was had by all at last weekend’s all-Aston Martin sale at Newport Pagnell. And none could have enjoyed the experience more than the vendor of the ‘barn-find’ (actually a dairy) 1961 DB4, a complete car that required total restoration.

Estimated at £15 – 20,000, hot money in the saleroom was on a £30 - 40,000 hammer, but goodness me if it didn’t go all the way to £70,000 with several bidders fighting to the very end. You just had to be there.

Steve Wakefield Managing Editor sw@classicdriver.com